newsday funbook

| TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 2014
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DANIEL BRENNAN
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PLAY TIME Indoor fun for kids exploreLI.com/kids
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entertainment
There’s a gig for gagson
‘Mulrooney in the Morning’ show
gets weekdays off to a funny start
BY DAVID J. CRIBLEZ
david.criblez@newsday.com
I
HOW IT BEGAN
The station was born out of
frustration. Governor’s coowner Marc Lund says he
couldn’t get the comedians
appearing at his clubs on local
radio shows to plug their gigs,
so he built his own radio studio and created his own station.
Lund hooked up with Mulrooney, who had done radio
in Albany and New York City,
to put together a morning
show. After a February
launch, it was picked up last
month by Clear Channel’s
iHeartRadio, which has 30
million subscribers.
The show is a mix of comedy, interviews, news commentary and pontifications on pop
culture. While “Mulrooney”
can venture into PG-13 territory, there’s no profanity. And
this isn’t shock radio.
“Funny, fun and friendly —
we go for funny, we keep it
fun and we make sure it’s
friendly,” says Mulrooney.
“We don’t shock or ambush
people. We are entertainers
first, radio people second.”
A TYPICAL MORNING
On a recent weekday morning, comedian Jackie “The
Joke Man” Martling is in the
room — he goes back 35 years
with Mulrooney — and the
pair is talking about rolling on
stage.
“You know you’re killing
when they’re not serving
drinks because the waitresses
are standing idly by,” says
Mulrooney.
“Because they are not looking for the next drink, they are
looking for the next joke!”
Martling interjects.
Soon, the entire crew samples Taco Bell’s new breakfast
item, the Waffle Taco.
“I want to take it to Jiffy
Lube for an oil change,” says
Mulrooney.
“It tastes better than it
looks,” Kowalski adds midbite. “I’m eating this with no
shame.”
“There’s 700 calories in each
one, by the way,” says Tyrrell.
PLACE FOR COMICS
The foursome is joined each
day by a different comic guest,
be it someone who is in town
for a gig at Governor’s or a
regular from the local circuit.
The lack of a live audience
doesn’t seem to bother anyone. The banter is unscripted.
“It’s kind of like seated
GOVS RADIO
ON THE AIR “Mulrooney
in the Morning,”
6-10 a.m. weekdays
WHERE TO LISTEN
govsradio.com,
iheart.com — or
download the Governor’s
Comedy Club or iHeart
Radio apps on iTunes.
CALL IN 844-646-5233
improv,” says Ronkonkoma
comedian Chris Roach, who
drops by once a week to sit in.
“I don’t try to write jokes, they
just kind of happen.”
Such is the essence of good
comedy, anyway.
“I’m like a chef who walks
into a kitchen armed with a
rack of spices and a fridge full
of ingredients,” says Mulrooney. “I might not know exactly
what I’m going to cook up, but
you are going to like the
meal.”
ABOVE AND ON THE COVER Jackie “The Joke Man” Martling, a
guest on the show, hosted by John Mulrooney, below, and broadcast
from Governor’s Comedy Club in Levittown. ] Video: exploreLI.com
DANIEL BRENNAN
NEWSDAY, TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 2014
exploreLI.com
t’s 6 a.m. and the sun is starting to come up over
Levittown. Despite the wee hour, laughter is leaking
out of Governor’s Comedy Club. There’s no
audience; in fact, the club is empty, but there’s a
foursome piled into a small studio in the back who
might be starting a revolution. Welcome to Govs Radio —
the only radio station to broadcast from a comedy club.
On the mic is veteran comic/on-air personality John
Mulrooney, surrounded by producer-engineer Tim
Tyrrell, newswoman Rocky Kowalski and comedian
Kevin Downey Jr. Together, they make up the
“Mulrooney in the Morning” show, which airs
weekdays 6-10 a.m. and replays all day on the popular
Internet streaming radio site iheart.com, as well as
govsradio.com. It’s early, but no one is complaining.
The mics are open and they are going live.
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ALSO ON THE AIR
Other comedy-centric radio programs:
WHEN 6-10 a.m.
MondaysWednesdays on
Sirius channel
100
In 2006, shock
jock Howard
Stern moved his
infamous radio
show to satellite, Stern
where he works
in uncensored form. Some things
never change: Stern still nabs indepth celebrity interviews and puts
on edgy high jinks with longtime
sidekick Robin Quivers and crew.
WHEN 10 p.m.-1 a.m.
weeknights on
DirecTV channel 239,
Sirius channel 92 and
XM channels 208
and 165
Comedian Artie
Lange spent nine
years by Stern’s side,
only to leave due to
Lange
his well-publicized
addiction to heroin and a suicide attempt.
Lange now runs his own comedy and
sports show on DirecTV and
artielangeshow.com (also available as a
free podcast on iTunes).
‘The Opie & Anthony Show’
Gregg “Opie” Hughes and Anthony
Cumia are known for their outrageous
and unpredictable radio — comedy
sniper Jim Norton chimes in with the
sarcasm.
WHEN 6:30-10:30 a.m. weekdays
XM Radio channel 103 and Sirius
channel 206
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